When last year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) rolled into Las Vegas, many were surprised and intrigued by Amazon's presence. They didn't have a typical booth on the trade show floor. Instead, they set up a Kindle vending machine inside the Las Vegas airport (near the ATM and soda pop).

Recently, a very senior marketing professional who works at one of the world's largest corporations was recounting a story of how they saw a postal truck outside of their corporate head offices in Silicon Valley, and every single parcel that was being offloaded from this truck was from Amazon. He thought to himself: "This is the what retail looks like in 2012."

I have no desire for another daily deal on a pedicure or hair removal, but I am interested in what new businesses in my area are open. And if the experience is great, I'm happy to be a loyal customer. But ultimately it's up to the merchants to build that relationship.